There are many types of games and contests that pit one player's skill and luck against one or more other players.
Contests can be classified into races, games and combinations thereof. Races involve individuals or teams against other competitors. Scoring is determined by an objective scale, e.g., time, distance, weight etc. In contrast, game scoring is determined by subjective events (points, goals, checkmates) scored by a given contestant against the opposing other contestants.
Similarly, contests-related gambling is also associated with races (e.g., horses, dogs, cars, track-and-field, yachting, etc.) and games (e.g., sport games, computer games). Contest-related gambling, unlike lottery-type gambling, favors a skilled player (assuming no one has fixed the contest, of course).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,641 to Sarno describes a method, apparatus and system for lottery gaming, wherein a simple, objective, verifiable and reliable method of selecting the winning lottery numbers is provided. A user accesses the game via a wide area network or by some other remote means and inputs required information, including payment information and the user's selections for the game. Prior to any user participating in the game, the game provider selects elements that comprise a winning combination. The elements that comprise the winning combination are objective and verifiable elements, such as, for example, a portion of the closing stock market price on a given day for a specified set of markets. As such, the elements comprising the winning combinations are objective and can be verified by all of the users. The definition of the winning combination can be redefined for each new game, or as it is generated from an indicia providing source, can remain the same for all games or a set number of games.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,929,550 to Hisada provides a second network game (for example, a betting game) using the results of a first network game (for example, a horse racing game), wherein third party users other than users running a first network game can participate. A greater number of users will thereby have interest in the first network game and the first network game will be built up. Also, a greater number of users can participate in a network game through the second network game.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,206,762 to Sireau describes a fixed-odds betting system that comprises a user terminal operable to accept parameters input by a user and relating to a fixed-odds bet on an aspect of a financial market, and a central processing machine having a data feed to a source of data concerning a financial market and means operable to calculate the fixed odds for the bet, based on at least some of the parameters input by the user and the data obtained from the data feed.